USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Medford > History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, in 1630, to the present time, 1855 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
85
MATHEW CRADOCK.
Indians to the knowledge of the gospel, which that it may be speedier and better effected, the earnest desire of our whole com- pany is, that you have diligent and watchful eye over our own people ; that they live unblameable and without reproof, and demean themselves justly and courteous towards the Indians, thereby to draw them to affect our persons, and consequently our religion ; as also to endeavor to get some of their children to train up to reading, and consequently to religion, while they are young: herein, to young or old, to omit no good opportunity that may tend to bring them out of that woful state and condition they now are in ; in which case our predecessors in this our land sometimes were, and but for the merey and goodness of our good God might have continued to this day ; but God, who, out of the boundless ocean of his mercy, hath showed pity and compassion to our land, he is all-sufficient and can bring this to pass which we now desire in that country likewise. Only let us not be wanting on our parts, now we are called to this work of the Lord; neither, having put our hands to the plough, let us look back, but go on cheerfully, and depend upon God for a blessing upon our labors, who, by weak instruments, is able (if he see it good) to bring glorious things to pass.
" Be of good courage, go on, and do worthily, and the Lord pros- per your endeavor.
" It is fully resolved, by God's assistance, to send over two minis- ters, at the least, with the ships now intended to be sent thither ; but, for Mr. Peters, he is now in Holland, from whence his return hither I hold to be uncertain. Those we send shall all be by the approbation of Mr. White, of Dorchester, and Mr. Davenport. For whatsoever else you have given advice, care shall be taken, God willing, to perform the needful, as near as we can, and the times will permit; whereof, also, you may expect more ample advertisement in their general letter, when God shall send our ships thither. The course you have taken in giving our countrymen their content of planting tobacco there for the present (their neces- sity considered) is not disallowed ; but we trust in God other means will be found to employ their time more comfortable, and profitable also in the end ; and we cannot but generally approve and commend their good resolution to desist from the planting thereof, when as they shall descern how to employ their labors otherwise, which we hope they will be speedily induced unto, by such precepts and examples as we shall give them. And now, minding to conclude this, I may not omit to put you in mind, however you seem to fear no enemies there, yet that you have a watchful eye for your own safety, and the safety of all those of our nation with you, and not to be too confident of the fidelity of the savages. It is an old pro- verb, yet as true, the burnt child dreads the fire. Our countrymen have suffered by their too much confidence in Virginia. Let us by their harms learn to beware; and as we are commanded to be in- nocent as doves, so withal we are enjoined to be wise as serpents.
86
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
The God of heaven and earth preserve and keep you from all foreign and inland enemies, and bless and prosper this plantation to the enlargement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, to whose merciful protection I commend you and all your associates there, known or unknown. And so, till my next, which shall be (God willing) by our ships, who I make account will be ready to set sail from hence about the 20th of this next month of March, I end, and rest,
Your assured loving friend and cousin,
MATHEW CRADOCK.
From my house in Swithin's Lane, near London Stone, this 16th February, 1628, stilo Anglica.
The confidence felt by the "Court" in Mr. Cradock's judgment was evinced by putting him first on that Commit- tee which was to divide and apportion the lands in New England, thus deciding how and where the first settlements should take place. He did all he could to get the fleet in readiness to sail. On the morning of the 29th March, 1630, when the vessels were lying at Cowes, he made a visit to his friends, and consulted with them on the expediency of sailing on Easter Monday. Hubbard says : " They were advised so to do by Mr. Cradock (who was that morning on board the 'Ar- bella ' ), the late Governor, and owner of the two last ships." Gov. Winthrop says : " Mr. Cradock was aboard the 'Arbella.' We came to council. Mr. Cradock presently went back, our captain giving him three shots out of the steerage for a fare- well." This gentleman, wise, good, zealous, honored, and rich, may be regarded, before any other individual, as the FOUNDER OF MEDFORD. There is no record of settlements earlier than those connected with him.
He was singularly cautious in selecting his workmen ; and such an extensive establishment for fishing as he designed, supposes many collateral branches of trade. In 1631, his agent, Mr. Davison, had become so settled as to build a ship on the bank of the Mystick. The place probably was where Mr. Calvin Turner built his first ship, or at Rock Hill. Providing his fishermen with vessels as fast as possible must have made Medford a place of brisk trade and commercial consequence. These first movements of Mr. Cradock here were in keeping with his expansive mind and great wealth. We have proof of his wide enterprise in the following record : "Feb. 1, 1634 : Mr. Cradock's house at Marblehead was burnt down about midnight before, there being in it Mr. Allerton and many fishermen, whom he employed that season.
87
MATHEW CRADOCK.
Mr. Allerton fished with eight boats." Jossylyn speaks of Mr. Cradock's plantation, in 1638, " on the west of Mystick River, where he has impaled a park ; " unquestionably the first park for deer impaled in this country.
In 1630, Mr. Cradock provides a man (Richard Water- man), "whose chief employment," he says to his men at Medford, " will be to get you good venison." The Company in England say (April 17, 1629), "William Ryall and Thomas Brude, coopers and cleavers of timber, are enter- tained by us in halves with Mr. Cradock, our Governor."
To express their sense of the value of Mr. Cradock's ser- vices for the Colony, the General Court, held at Newton, March 4, 1634, make him a grant of land in the following words : " All the ground, as well upland as meadow, lying and being betwixt the land of Mr. Nowell and Mr. Wilson on the east, and the partition betwixt Mistick bounds on the west, bounded with Mistick River on the south, and the Rocks on the north, is granted to Mr. Mathew Cradock, merchant, to enjoy to him and his heirs for ever."
Some of the earliest grants of land were made before any boundary lines of towns were fixed.
" March 3, 1635 : Ordered that the land formerly granted to Mr. Cradock, merchant, shall extend one mile into the country from the river-side in all places." This tract is sup- posed to have embraced three thousand five hundred acres.
In proof of this gentleman's profound attachment to the Puritan enterprise, we will here quote a few sentences from the " First Letter of the Governor and Deputy of the New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts Bay, to the Governor and Council for London's Plantation in the Massachusetts Bay, in New England." April 17, 1629: Many men and various articles for trade and use having been sent from London, the letter says : ---
" We pray you give all good accommodation to our present Go- vernor, Mr. Mathew Cradock, who, with some particular brethren of the company, have deeply engaged themselves in their private ad- ventures in these ships, and those to come; and as we hold these men, that thus deeply adventure in their private, to be (under God) special instruments for the advancing and strengthening of the plantation, which is done by them without any charge to the com- pany's general stock, wherein, notwithstanding, they are as deep or deeper engaged than any other.
"We have sent six shipwrights, of whom Robert Moulton is
1
88
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
chief. These men's entertainment is very chargeable to us ; and by agreement it is to be borne two-thirds at the charge of the general company, and the other one-third is to be borne by Mr. Cradock, our Governor, and his associates interested in a private stock. We hope you will be careful to see them so employed as may counter- vail the charge, desiring you to agree with Mr. Sharp that their labor may be employed two-thirds for the general company, and one- third for Mr. Cradock and his associates ; praying you to accom- modate said Mr. Cradock's people in all fitting manner, as he doth well deserve.
" Our Governor, Mr. Cradock, hath entertained (paid the expenses of) two gardeners, one of which he is content the company shall have use of, if need be."
In a second letter, from the same source, directed to the same persons, under date of May 28, 1629, we find the fol- lowing statements :
" The cattle now and formerly sent have been all provided by the Governor, Mr. Cradock, except the three mares that came out of Leicestershire.
"The provisions for building of ships, as pitch, tar, rosin, oakum, old ropes for oakum, cordage, and sail-cloth, in all these ships, with nine firkins and five half-barrels of nails in the 'Two Sisters,' are two-thirds for the company in general, and one-third for the Go- vernor, Mr. Cradock, and his partners; as is also the charge of one George Farr, now sent over to the six shipwrights formerly sent."
These extracts show the deep enthusiasm of Mr. Cradock in the New England enterprise. He went into it heart and purse. He adopted Medford as his head-quarters ; and here he made his first settlement, here opened his business of ship-building and fishing, and here placed an agent to exe- cute his plans. The most sagacious and wealthy merchant of the company could not have made a wiser choice. To Med- ford he directed his thoughts, in Medford he expended his money, and for the prosperity of Medford he devoutly prayed. Our infant town could not have had a better father.
He may have first stopped opposite Winthrop's farm, at Ten Hills, and there done something in the fishing business ; but we very soon find him, by his agent, engaged in building a bridge across Mistick River, at the place where "the great bridge " now stands. There could have been no motive for his building such a bridge, at such a time, and at his own expense, unless his men and business were in that neighbor- hood. That his operations were not confined to one spot
1
89
MATHEW CRADOCK.
appears from the fact that he had a fishing establishment " at Agawam, by Merrimack," where, Aug. 8, 1631, some hostile Indians "rifle the wigwam where Mr. Cradock's men kept to catch sturgeons, taking away their nets, biskets, &c." In the records of the General Court, held at Boston, Nov. 7, 1632, we have the following record: "Mr. Mathew Cradock is fined £4 for his men being absent from training divers times." This was remitted, probably on account of the impossibility in a fisherman of being on shore at any given period.
At a General Court held at Boston, March 4, 1633, the following grant was made : "The Wear at Mistick is granted to John Winthrop, Esq., present Governor, and to Mr. Mathew Cradock, of London, to enjoy to them and their heirs for ever."
March 3, 1635 : In General Court. - "Ordered that there shall be £55 paid to Mr. Cradock."
March 26, 1638: "There is a grant of a thousand acres of land granted to Mr. Mathew Cradock, where it may be had without prejudice to any plantation or former grants, in the judgment of the Court. Also there is granted to Mr. Cradock five hundred acres of land more for such servants as he shall appoint it unto, twenty miles from any plantation, without prejudice to any plantation."
June 2, 1641 : " Mr. Thomas Mayhew and Mr. Joseph Cooke appointed to set out the five hundred acres of Mr. Oldham's for Mr. Cradock near Mount Feake."
On the same day, " Voted that Mr. Cradock's rates should be forborne till the next ship come, and then it is referred to Mr. Stoughton and Mr. Hawthorne to consider and give order in it."
The reader may now be referred to what is said concerning Mr. Cradock's agency in building the first bridge over Mis- tick River ; and, putting those facts with these here stated, we come at the conclusion that Medford should cherish with gratitude the memory of one who opened here a new and extensive trade, who sent over many men as laborers in ship- building and fishing, who conjured all to treat the Indians
. with tenderness and generosity, and who, in the letter of April 17, 1629, speaks of the settlement of families here in these terms : -
" Our earnest desire is, that you take special care in settling these families, that the chief in the family (at least some of them) be
12
90
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
grounded in religion, whereby morning and evening family duties may be duly performed, and a watchful eye held over all in each family, by one or more in each family to be appointed thereto, that so disorders may be prevented, and ill weeds nipt before they take too great a head."
In the same letter we find the following : -
" Above all, we pray you be careful there be none in our pre- cincts permitted to do any injury (in the least kind) to the heathen people; and, if any offend in that way, let them receive due cor- rection. If any of the savages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endea- vor to purchase their title, that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion."
We know of only one relative of Mr. Cradock who came to this country, and his name was George Cradock, mentioned . by Douglas and Hutchinson as an inhabitant of Boston.
We cannot better close the notice of Medford's founder and friend than by giving a copy of his Will, which has never till now been printed : -
" Last Will and Testament of Mathew Cradock.
"I, Mathew Cradock, of London, merchant, being in perfect memory and bodily health, - thanks be given to God therefor, - do hereby make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following; that is to say, -
" I bequeath my soul into the hands of the Almighty God, trust- ing, by the merits of the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ only, to obtain remission of all my sins. My body, when it shall please God to separate it from my soul, I recommend to the earth, in assured confidence of a glorious resurrection at the great and dreadful day of judgment.
" As to my outward estate, wherewith God of his goodness hath endowed me, I have ever accounted myself but a steward thereof; therefore humbly entreat the Almighty to enable me so to demean myself in disposing thereof as that I may, through his mercy in the merits of Christ, be always prepared to give a comfortable account of my stewardship.
" I do hereby order, in the first place, that all sure debts as are, any manner of way, justly due and owing to any person whatsoever, be truly and fully satisfied and paid : the accounts of the widow of Stephen Benister, late of London, cloth-worker, deceased, that the same be answered and (committed) to the use of my executors ; and for dealing with one llenry Colthirst, if Mr. Pennoyde, who is best acquainted with the business, see it to be due, which is challenged,
91
MATHEW CRADOCK.
I order it to be answered with consideration for the time, all just debts paid. The remainder of my estate I give and bequeath as followeth : -
" To the poor of the parish of St. Peter's, the poor in Broad Street, where I served my apprenticeship, forty pounds sterling ; to the poor of St. Swithin's, where I dwelled, one hundred pounds, to be employed as a stock for their use, and the benefit thereof to be distributed yearly at the discretion of the greater number in the vestry. This to be taken out of the third part of my estate, which, by the custom of the city of London, is at my own disposing.
"One third part of my whole clear estate, my debts being paid and satisfied, I give and bequeath to my precious, dear, and loving wife, Rebeccah Cradock ; one other third part of my estate, accord- ing to the ancient custom of the city of London, I do give to my daughter, Damaris, and to such other child or children as it shall please God to give me by my wife, Rebeccah. Moreover, I do give and bequeath to my said dear and loving wife all my household stuff and plate at my house in London, where I'dwell, and at a house I hold at Rumford, in Essex, as also the lease of my dwell- ing-house in London. Only, out of my plate and household stuff aforesaid, I give to my said daughter, Damaris, to the value of fifty pounds, in such particulars as my said wife shall order and appoint the same. Moreover, I do give to my loving wife aforesaid, to be by her enjoyed during her natural life, the one-half of all the estate I now have or shall have in New England, in America, at the time of my decease; and, after the decease of my wife as aforesaid, I do give and bequeath the moiety of my movables and immova- bles hereby intended to be enjoyed by my wife during her natural life, unto my brother, Samuel Cradock, and his heirs male. And, for the other moiety of my estate in New England aforesaid, I hereby give and bequeath the same to my daughter Damaris, and the issue of her body, to be lawfully begotten ; and, for want of such issue, to my said brother Samuel, and his heirs male aforesaid. And my will is, that when my wife shall marry, that in such case her then intended husband, before their marriage, shall become bound to my said brother and his heirs in five thousand pounds of lawful money of England not to sell away or alienate any part of the moiety of my lands hereby intended and bequeathed to my wife, and subse- quently to him, during her natural life, and that he shall have at the time of her decease in personal estate therefor my brother and his heirs to enjoy after the decease of my said wife at least for the full value of five hundred pounds sterling in movable goods. And whosoever shall marry my daughter Damaris, I do hereby will and order, that, before marriage, he likewise shall enter into like bond, with the like covenants and conditions ; in case iny said daughter depart this life without issue, or either of the parties before mentioned, both or either of them, hereby enjoined to seal the said several bond, which shall refuse or neglect to do the same, or to deliver the
92
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
said bond or bonds to my brother or his heirs then being, in legal and lawful manner, I do hereby declare, that, immediately from and after such marriage respectively, the moiety of the estate hereby intended to the party so marrying, and not giving the bond as afore- said, shall be, and I do hereby bequeath the same to my said brother Samuel and his heirs, any thing before mentioned to the contrary notwithstanding.
" Moreover, I do give to my brother, Samuel Cradock, and my sister, his wife, five hundred pounds; and to every one of the children of my said brother I do give one hundred pounds. More- over, to his son Samuel, now student in Emanuel, in Cambridge, I do give for his maintenance for three years forty pounds per annum ; and to his son Mathew, for his better preferment, whereby to place him with an able merchant, two hundred pounds. And I do give twenty pounds yearly to my said brother Samuel towards the maintenance of my brother and sister Sawyer; and to my sister, after the decease of her husband, I do give two hundred pounds. Item : To Dorothy Sawyer, daughter to my said sister Sawyer, I give, for her better preferment, in case she will be advised by my wife in her marriage, two hundred pounds ; and to the rest of my sister Sawyer's children I do give to every of them fifty pounds. To my maid-servants five pounds every of them. Item : To my part- ners that ventured with me and were my servants and party-venturers in the East-land trade, namely, to Thomas Hodlow and Edward Lewis, six hundred pounds apiece, if they accept of it for their part, and declare themselves willing thereunto within three months after the publishing of this my Will, or else to have their several equal one-eighth part of the clear profits of the trade aforesaid, from the time that I promised the same, till the amount for the same shall be perfected, which is to be done by their help and endeavors. Item : I do desire and entreat Mr. William Corbine to assist my wife aforesaid, whom I make sole executor of this my last Will and Testament, to get in my estate, and to see my debts paid and my Will performed.
"Given as my act, last Will, and Testament, this 9th day of November, 1640. " MATHEW CRADOCK.
" Witness hereto : Edward Lewis, William Alney, Richard Howell.
"Entered and recorded the 12th of February, 1662, by " THOMAS DANFORTH,
" Recorder."
This will of Mr. Cradock sounds somewhat peculiar in our ears ; and we presume it is not a fair specimen of that legal precision in words so necessary then in such a docu- ment. To give six hundred pounds to each of his partners in a land speculation was a new way of settling an outstand-
-
93
CIVIL HISTORY.
ing account. We cannot too much admire the wise and Christian provision he makes for his wife. When a husband, by his Will, dooms the mother of his children to comparative poverty, he is guilty of a most brutal baseness. A crime kindred to this is that of a father who, by his Will, plunges his unmarried daughters into a situation of dependence and want, for which he has not prepared them, and in which they must suffer through life. We do not learn from Mr. Cradock's Will how extensive his territorial property in Medford was, or what was the amount of his whole invest- ment here. After his death, a part of his farm in Medford was sold to Mr. Ed. Collins, who pays to Mrs. Cradock £120, to Samuel Cradock and Sons £100, and to Damaris Cradock and her husband £230. The condition attached to his be- quest to his niece, Miss Dorothy Sawyer, is proof that he had a wise-judging wife, and that said wife had a provident husband.
There is no record of Mr. Cradock's last illness or death known to us. It is presumed he died in 1644; because, in our county registry, deeds are found in that year from his agent, and in the next year from the agents of his executors.
CHAPTER III.
CIVIL HISTORY.
WHEN the Europeans took possession of North America, by the right of discovery, their entry of lands, countries, and continents was deemed by them as legal ownership for their sovereign. The discoveries of John and Sebastian Cabot, Bartholomew Gosnold, and others, were understood to give to James I., of England, the coasts and country of New England. The king accordingly claimed, in the eighteenth year of his reign, the entire continent between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In that same year, he granted to " the Council of Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New England,
94
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
in America," "all that part of America lying and being in breadth from forty degrees to forty-eight degrees of north latitude, and in length of and within all the breadth afore- said throughout the mainland, from sea to sea,"-" to be holden of him, his heirs, and successors, as of his manor of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in free and common sockage, and not in capite, nor by knight's service ;" the grantees "yielding and paying therefor the fifth part of the ore of gold and silver which should happen to be found in any of the said lands."
Medford was included in the territory granted, Dec. 30, 1622, by the Plymouth Company to Robert Gorges. It was the tract "commonly called or known by the name of the Messachusiack," lying " upon the north-east side of the bay, called or known by the name of the Messachusett." It extended "ten English miles towards the north-east, and thirty English miles unto the main land, through all the breadth aforesaid."
Hutchinson says that this grant, being loose and uncertain, was never used.
March 19, 1628 : The Council of Plymouth, under their common seal, by a deed indented, granted and sold to Sir Henry Roswell and five others " all that part of New Eng- land, in America, which lies and extends between a great river there, commonly called Monomack (Merrimack), and a certain other river there, called Charles ; being in the bottom of a certain bay there, commonly called Massachusetts."
These are the first grants, under legal authority, of the territory within which Medford stands. The Council also sold " all the lands being within the space of three English miles on the south of Charles River and Massachusetts Bay, and within the same space on the north of the river Mono- mack, and of all parts of said rivers and bay, and from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west." " Upon the petition of said Henry Roswell and five others, and their associates, twenty in number, to have and to hold to them, &c., by the same tenure, and incorporated them by the name of 'The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.